An ecogeographic survey was conducted in three regions of Italy in 1999. The
three regions selected for the survey were central Italy, Sicily and Calabria, and
Sardinia. A total of seventy-nine sites were visited across the three regions in
May when the botanical composition of perennial legume species was documented,
including recording companion annual species. Detailed ecogeographic
information was collected at each site, and soil samples were taken for later
laboratory analysis. Climate data for each site were obtained from the Central
Bureau of Agricultural Ecology. The sites were revisited in July to collect seed
of the perennial species.
One hundred and forty-seven legume species were identified, fifty-two of
which were perennial. The most common perennial species were Trifolium
pratense, T. repens and Lotus corniculatus, and these were also found to be the
species with the widest distributions. Species distribution and site variability was
analysed using #-rneans clustering. This identified eleven different climate
clusters and nine soil clusters. Particularly acid soils were rare. Cross-tabulation
of soil and climate clusters resulted in several environment combinations,
which could be explained by geography to a limited extent.
The results obtained in this study provide useful preliminary information in
the search for perennial legumes for the farming systems of southern Australia,
particularly in areas with acid soils....more